Magic City Soccer will take the last 10 days of 2019 to review the last 10 years of Miami-Dade County soccer. Today in Miami Soccer in Review, we take a look back at 2019. As the decade closes, Inter Miami CF, The Miami FC and more prepare for the next decade and beyond.

2019 began with Inter Miami CF targeting Miami Freedom Park and a not-yet-named temporary venue. The Miami FC was preparing for its second season in the National Premier Soccer League. And Miami United FC was gearing up for its sixth season at Ted Hendricks Stadium in Hialeah. By the end of the year, Inter Miami was nearly done building a stadium no one envisioned in January, Miami FC was onto its third league in 12 months, and Miami United moved across the county.

Magic City Soccer will take the last 10 days of 2019 to review the last 10 years of Miami-Dade County soccer. Today in Miami Soccer in Review, we take a look back at 2016. The Miami FC debuts less than a year after being announced, and struggles to find its footing.

The Miami FC took the field for the first time in 2016, led by Italian giant Alessandro Nesta. In the club’s first match against Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Darío Cvitanich would score the first goal thanks to a penalty and a 10-man side saw out a 1-1 draw at Lockhart Stadium in Broward County. The Strikers, who qualified for the NASL playoffs the prior season, offered a measuring stick with which to compare Miami FC. The next week, the Blues again saw out a 1-1 draw, this time against Tampa Bay Rowdies, a team that came two points behind Fort Lauderdale the previous season.

Magic City Soccer will take the last 10 days of 2019 to review the last 10 years of Miami-Dade County soccer. Here, we begin our look back at a decade of Miami soccer in review with 2010, an Annus Horribilis.

The decade of the 2010s was supposed to open with a bang for the Miami soccer community. In October 2008, Barcelona announced that it would be partnering with Brightstar Corp. CEO Marcelo Claure to bring an Major League Soccer team to FIU Stadium, possibly as soon as 2010.

If you know anything about soccer in Miami this decade, you know this couldn’t have compared less favorably with what actually happened. In fact, the only constant was Claure, now involved in the ownership of Inter Miami CF.

Less than six months after the proposal was introduced, and less than two months after demolition began, the City of Fort Lauderdale’s commission Tuesday night gave final approval to the construction of a stadium at the site of Lockhart Stadium for the use of Inter Miami CF.

The vote, which was unanimous and took only a few minutes of deliberation, now guarantees that Inter Miami CF will have a home to play in when it begins its first Major League Soccer campaign.

There are still wrinkles to iron out. Most notably, the Federal Aviation Administration will have say over the construction process, due to the lot’s proximity to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. According to Chris Wittyngham, who spoke to a team official after the vote, the team is ready to start building as soon as that approval is given.

Spoke to a team official after the approval. He says they’re ready to go as soon as possible on construction.

They do have to go through a process with the FAA about the adjacent airport but otherwise it will move quickly.